Author's note: Ok, you guys have no idea how long I have been wanting to write this! Here is the song (from Groundhog Day 'cause...why not?) that pretty much sums up Grantaire and many of the Amis! Hope you all enjoy it! (Also, if you haven't heard the song, do yourself a favor and got to YouTube and type in 'Nobody Cares Groundhog Day'. I guarantee you will enjoy it!)
Enjolras doesn't drink. He never has time for it nor does he want the time to do so. But that all changed in just one night.
It had been a long, hard day. Enjolras was trying to recruit members for his protests. He usually was very good at this kind of thing, but today he seemed to have lost it.
As he was trying to convince people to join his cause, he heard the same word be shouted at him over and over.
"Nobody cares what you are saying!"
"Go home!"
"You are a nuisance!"
Rotten food and mud (at least he hoped it was mud) was thrown at the fearless leader until the crowd finally dispersed.
"Great! What do I do now?" Enjolras asked himself, cleaning off the grime.
He looked over at the cafe Musain, nicely in place overlooking the street. His friends were at the window, seeming to have a good time.
The belltower rang ten times. It was ten in the evening and Enjolras didn't even realize it.
"I'll go finish my work at the cafe. This will all have to continue tomorrow." he told himself and he began to walk towards the cafe.
Once inside, he noticed two of his closest friends at the bar of the cafe. One of them was Grantaire, chugging down bottle after bottle of beer. The other was Courfeyrac, who seemed to be crying over his own bottle.
Enjolras walked over to the both of them.
"I don' even know wha-HICUP I did, R! She just up and left moi!" Courfeyrac blubbered while hiccuping.
Grantaire looked at his sobbing buddy and with a shaky hand, grasped what he could of Courfeyrac's shoulder.
"Ya know what ya need? 'Nother drink." he slurred.
Courfeyrac nodded and reached for a half drunk bottle that sat next to a young man who (unbeknownst to Couferyac) was not finished with it.
The man wasn't very happy about a stranger taking his drink.
"Hey! Haven't you had enough!" the man snapped, grabbing his bottle from Courfeyrac's grasp.
Courf, pointing his shaky pudgy little finger at the man, said, "Had Enough?! I'll tell you when I have enough!" He grabbed the bottle out of the man's hand and held it close to his chest.
"MINE!"
The man rolled his eyes and left the cued Enjolras to make his move.
He placed his hands onto Grantaire and Courfeyrac's shoulders.
Grantaire looked over at the blonde young man.
"'Jolras! How are you?" Grantaire slurred.
Courfeyrac shakily looked to Enjolras.
"'Ello! I'm your vitamine benjamin boy! Are you tired and restless? Do you poop out at parties?" he slurred before slamming his head onto the bar table.
"Ignore him. Come! Sit down! Have a drink!" Grantaire encouraged.
Enjolras took the empty seat next to Courfeyrac.
"No no no! I don't need a drink! I just need a break from all my protests."
"What better way to take a break than to take a drink?" Grantaire garbled.
"Loukas!" R grabbed the bartender's attention. "Three bottles!"
The bartender nodded and pulled out three bottles of beer and handed each one to the three men.
Enjolras tried to look at Grantaire in the eye.
"R! I don't drink!"
"Come on! It won't bite ya! Just one itsy bitsy sip!"
"R, please!"
"Hey!" Loukas the bartender exclaimed. Enjolras and Grantaire both stared at him.
"You look stressed, boy! Listen to your pal! One drink ain't gonna kill you."
Enjolras looked at the bottle.
"Well, I haven't had any progress with my protests…"
He picked up the bottle.
"One little sip won't hurt…" and he took a drink.
Enjolras made the most revolting face similar to that of a child who ate lemons for the first time.
"BLECH!" Enjolras exclaimed. Then he took another drink.
"UGH!" he yelled, then took another.
"It's horrible and wonderful at the same time it's like freedom in a bottle!" Enjolras exclaimed, chugging down the rest.
"Told ya." Grantaire intoxicatedly smiled.
"I need somethin' stronger." Courfeyrac stuttered.
""Whisky?" Loukas asked.
"Make it three!" Grantaire, Courfeyrac, and Enjolras told in unison.
Loukas brought out a few cups for the whisky and placed the bottle close to Enjolras.
Grantaire and Courfeyrac took another drink from their bottles while Enjolras helped himself to the whisky.
"Hey, Courf?!" Grantaire half yelled half asked.
"Whaat?" Courfeyrac responded.
"Did you see that weirdo on the street today?!"
"What weirdo?"
"The one who said that the peeps who mind control us into followin' rules needs to open their eyes an' look at the people who are stuffing…"
Enjolras stopped drinking. Though being quite tipsy, he could vaguely recognize what Grantaire was saying. He was talking about him.
"But, I have seen some of 'dem. And they have opened eyes. Some have eyes like this."
Courfeyrac opened his eyes wide until they bugged out of his head.
R took another drink.
"Ya know how people can look at somethin', but their mind is some'ere else?"
Courfeyrac groggily thought about it, then had an epiphany.
"You think they were sleeping with their eyes open?"
"Prolly."
Hearing this, Enjolras took large shot of whiskey while his friends finished off their bottles of beer.
They sat in silence until R commented, "Ya know, France has only one word for Paris."
Enjolras took another shot, his conscience hazly going in and out.
Courfeyrac placed his hand on Grantaire's shoulder.
"I know." he smiled, then frowned in confusion. "What is it?"
Enjolras tried to chug down the Whisky but to no avail as he slammed the bottle onto the table top and began to cry.
Courfeyrac put his arms around Enjolras, trying to comfort him.
"There there. It's okay. Mama's here."
"Oh, what's the point? I am a weirdo! But I have my reasons! I mean, how would you feel if you were stuck in a place, where everyday is the same. No change. And nothing you did made any difference?"
Courfeyrac and Grantaire looked at each other with realization of what their friend had said.
Then, oddly enough, Grantaire began to sing.
"I wake up hung over
I go to bed smashed
Like an alcoholic hamster
Grantaire attempted to make a circular motion with his finger, but it ended up turning out to be an oval.
On one of them little wheelie things
Every evening the same
Every morning the pain
I start drinking at 10
And by noon I'm not feeling things"
Grantaire raised his bottle in the air, like a flag. "And nobody cares what I'm talking about!"
Suddenly, Courfeyrac burped a loud, stinky burp.
"Oh shit I just gone thrown up in my mouth!" He exclaimed.
"Just swallow it man". Grantaire assured him.
"I'm trying." Courf responded.
"Just swallow it."
Courfeyrac swallowed then opened his mouth to show Grantaire.
"I did it!" he said with his tongue sticking out.
"Your opinions or your vomit,
Either way they don't want it." Grantaire told.
Courfeyrac began to sing along by asking, "What's your point? "
"And I think I had a point there," Grantaire told.
"What is your point?"
"But the point is it don't matter,"
Couferyac and Grantaire sang in unison. "Cause it's pointless having points anyway, 'cause,"
The two of them looked at the intoxicated Enjolras, who had become so drunk, he actually understood what his friends were talking about.
"Noooobody cares what I say!
Nobody cares what I do!
What's the point of bothering if no-one else is bothered
I was born in Paris and I'm gonna die here too."
"Hey, 'Jolras! Be a good friend and pour us some Whiskey." Grantaire slurred.
Enjolras poured and slid the glasses to his friends.
"I wake with a headache,
I take a piss I often miss
I often get a little bit on the floor." Grantaire and Couferyac explained in unison as the three of them swirled their drinks before taking a shot.
Grantaire slid their glasses back to Enjolras for another refill.
"I eat a piece of toast
That I found toasted in the toaster
Then I goes to get my jacket by the rack by the back door
And then I get into my truck
I drive a block to Grantaire's shop
It's always shut he picks me up
And drives us up to running rock
And shoot some cans and crack some cans
And shoot the breeze about the weather
Or a sports team or a car,"
There was silence as R and Courf held their glasses as if someone was going to steal them.
"And after that the bar." and took another shot.
Enjolras massaged his fingers to him temple, trying to think through his alcoholic mind.
Grantaire and Couferyac looked at their friend and sang,
"Nobody cares what I say
Nobody cares what I do
What's the point of bothering if no-one else is bothered
I was born in Paris and I'm gonna die here too."
Suddenly, Enjolras came to a realization through all the alcohol and words of his friends.
"Guys! I just realize something! If today is the same as tomorrow, then today is tomorrow! And tomorrow is today! No consequences, no hangovers...We can do whatever we want!" he smiled.
Grantaire and Couferyac drunkenly smiled, looked at each other, then back to their blonde friend.
"WE CAN DO WHATEVER WE WANT!" They yelled.
"R! Do you still have your truck?" Enjolras asked.
Grantaire pulled out his keys from his coat pocket and smiled.
"Let's drive!"
The three of them paid for their drinks and ran down to the parking lot, where Grantaire's rusty red truck sat. The boys scrambled into the automobile,and Enjolras turned on the engine and backed out of the parking lot. He hit the gas and sped through the alleyway, joining his friends as the groggily sang,
"I wake with a headache
I take a piss I often miss
I often get a little bit on the floor
I sometimes try to clean
The mess I makes from my mistakes
But for whose sakes
am I making all this 'F'ing effort for
I wake up each morning
In the same damn day
There seems to be jack shit
That I can do or say
I've got no voice I've got no vote
I've got no way to change a goddamn thing."
Grantaire looked out the window from his end seat, noticing two police cars, sitting to the sides of the road.
"I think that's the pigs." he told.
Enjolras laughed,"Who gives a fig?"And flipped a birdie towards the cop cars.
Grantaire and Couferyac laughed and joined in, flipping off the cops.
"Nobody cares what I do
Nobody cares about my life
Utterly uninfluential
No regrets and no potential
Every turn inconsequential."
"Yeehaw let's drive!" Grantaire exclaimed, which urged Enjolras to hit the gas harder.
"Nobody cares what I say
Nobody cares about my life
Utterly uninstrumental
No insurance, no intent!"
Courfeyrac poked Grantaire in the arm.
"Well actually, I've got dental." he said and opened his mouth.
"Ok well that's nice." Grantaire commented.
"And I'm not sure what the point is
But the point is it don't matter,"
Point is it don't matter, "
"You know, all my life I have been told what to!" Enjolras explained.
"Clean your room! Do your homework! Get a job! Don't drive on the railroad tracks…"
Enjolras was so intoxicated, he didn't realize that he had driven the truck onto the railroad tracks with a train barreling down towards them.
"Tra-tra-tra-" Courfeyrac stuttered.
The train's horn blared at the truck.
The three of them screamed as Enjolras steered swiftly to the right, avoiding the oncoming train. Luckily, they barely missed getting hit. Enjolras drove the truck out of the train station and put it back onto the road.
" 'cause,"
"Nobody cares what I do
Nobody cares about my life
Utterly uninfluential
No regrets and no potential
Every turn inconsequential."
"Ya know, that's offensive!" Couferyac hiccuped.
"What is?" Enjolras asked.
"Those cars are missing a white light! The French flag is red white and blue! Not red and blue! And that music is really annoying."
"That's not music! That's a siren! It's the cops!" Enjolras realized.
Two police cars sped closely behind the truck, their sirens wailing loudly like a screeching baby.
"They're gaining on us!" Grantaire exclaimed.
Enjolras smiled. "Then were just going to have to go faster!" and he floored the gas.
The three automobiles chased each other through the narrow Parisian streets. Luckily, there were no people on that streets this early in the morning, otherwise the pursuit would have steamrolled anyone in the cars' path.
And I'm not sure what the point is
But the point is it don't matter
The truck drove onto the sidewalk, nearly scratching the the sides of the buildings.
A wooden table that was left out in front of a cafe, peacefully sitting on the sidewalk. Too bad that table was steamrolled by the truck..
Enjolras managed to steer the pick-up back onto the road, clashing sides with one of the police cars. The police car was skidded off onto the left side of the road.
"Woah! Did you see that!" Enjolras laughed
Not sure what the point is
Point is it don't matter cause
Nobody cares what I do
Nobody cares about my life
Utterly uninfluential
No regrets and no potential
Every turn inconsequential
Suddenly, the truck hit a puddle of water, causing the vehicle to spiral until it slammed front first into a tree.
The three of them nearly hit the dashboard, but were saved by their seatbelts.
"Utterly repercussion free!" Enjolras exclaimed.
"Though arguably not for that tree!" Grantaire told.
"I think I pooped my dungaree." Courfeyrac said embarrassingly.
Enjolras and Grantaire looked down at Courferyac's lap to see if he actually did. It was very hard to tell.
"No consequence at all!" all three of them sang.
All of a sudden, one of the police cars rolled behind the pickup truck. Officer Javert got out of the car with his partner and slowly made their way to the front of the truck.
"This is the police! Place your hands above your head!" Javert's partner yelled.
Grantaire and Couferyac did as they were told, but not Enjolras. He wasn't going to let a bunch of cops tell him what to do.
When Javert got up to the side window, he knocked on it, indicating that he wanted it rolled down.
Enjolras rolled down the window and looked at Javert.
"Hi! I would like two double cheese burgers, hold the onions on one, three chocolate shakes…"
"And pancakes!" Courfeyrac exclaimed.
"Is it too early for pancakes?" Enjolras asked.
"Get out of the car!" Javert ordered, opening the truck door and pulling him out of the driver's seat.
"You are under arrest!"
Javert's partner opened the other door to let Grantaire and Courferyac out.
"Wait! What about them?" Enjolras asked as the handcuffs were being placed on his wrists.
Javert looked over the roof of the truck.
"Good night, R! Good night, Courf!" he exclaimed.
"Good night, inspector Javert!" the boys responded.
"See you tomorrow, Javert!" Javert's partner exclaimed.
"Actually, Jean-Luc, there is no tomorrow!" Courferyac told.
"There wasn't one today!" Grantaire exclaimed.
"Come on, boy! I have a nice cell for you…"
At about 4:29 A.M., the phone rang off the hook at the Combeferres' house.
Combeferre stumbled through the hallway to the phone and answered.
"Hello?" he yawned.
"Hi! Combeferre! It's me, Enjolras! Yeah...um…"
Combeferre jolted in alert to the sound of his friend's voice.
"Are you…?"
"Yep. Could you be a pal and bail me out?" Enjolras chuckled nervously.
"You are so grounded." Combeferre snapped, and slammed the phone onto the receiver.
Enjolras waited.
"So, is that a yes? Hello?"
Review, please!